The present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari recently lunched the #ChangeBeginsWithMe program obviously targeted at all Nigerian citizens to adjust their attitudes for a better Nigeria.
Although the program appears noble and laudable, some opinion leaders have viewed it as a diversion from the “original change” that Buhari promised Nigerians during his presidential campaign. Buhari’s original change vowed to wage war against corruption, improve security, power supply, the economy and job creation.
While these ideal changes Nigerians expect are still far off in a distant future, this change begins with me have effectively thrown back the job of bringing the “change” on the shoulders of every Nigerian.
Actually when viewed critically and subsequently becomes popular among Nigerians, the agenda could bring discipline, sense of responsibility, accountability and development; but here is the major problem with this situation, there are certain things that Nigerian citizens cannot change, only Buhari and his government can change them.
Below are five things Nigerians cannot change, i hope this “change begins with me” does not include them:
- Stable Electricity Power supply: One of the major change Nigerians voted for is an improved electricity power supply, As if to call the bluff of President Muhammadu Buhari’s pronouncement to generate 10,000 megawatts, MW, by 2019, output from the generating plants dropped to as low as 2,841MW by March. Also the Federal Government have failed on its promise to achieve the target of 6,000 Mega Watts (MW) of electricity generation last December 2015. Unfortunately this is one critical project that only the government can carry out, except of-course the “change begins with me” requires that Nigerians depend on power generating sets to power their homes and offices. #LetTheChangeBeginWithStableElectricity
- Security in Niger Delta and North-east: Insurgence was alien to Nigerians until Boko Haram launched an assault in the North-east which resulted in loss of lives and displacements of thousands of Nigerians from their homes. The insurgence also lead to the disappearance of Chibok girls and till this moment the government have no idea how to rescue the girls. The Niger delta region have also been engulfed with pipeline vandalism and destruction of oil installations. Nigerians trusted Buhari to calm the tide the moment he steps into Aso Rock, unfortunately the Boko Harm war have been worn in pages of newspapers and there is yet to be a meaningful dialogue in the Niger Delta. Unfortunately yet again, only the government is saddled with the responsibility of providing security to all Nigerians. Even the change begins with me cannot solve the security challenge in these restive regions. #LetTheChangeBeginWithSecurity
- Construction and maintenance of roads: It is unfortunate that every electoral campaign in Nigeria woos Nigerians with the promise of massive road construction and maintenance, and this is a recurrent decimal in Nigeria’s politics. President Buhari also cashed in on the inability of past governments to provide safe roads for Nigerians and it is only noble to make well his promise to make Nigerian roads motor-able. Even with the change begins with me campaign ongoing, Nigerians expect Buhari to #letTheChangeBeginWitRroadConstruction.
- Naira Loosing its value: Before Buhari came into power, the Nigerian Naira exchanged at 197/$, but as at today 16th September 2016 the Naira exchanges for 315/$. Recently the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) called on the president to restore the Naira to 197/$ and resign; although the call was laughable, but it goes to show how low the Naira has fallen under this present administration. Unfortunately Nigerians do not have the power to make monetary policies, only the government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) can make that happen. Let the change begin with #NairaRestoration.
- Recession: There have been a lot of blame game going around since Buhari came into power as to who takes the blame in the present economic recession, the argument is that for 16 years the PDP plundered our common wealth, while that maybe true, it only took the APC and Buhari 16 months to oversee the total collapse of our economy. The government have harped so much on economic diversification, but from the day search for oil started in the North, it became glaring that diversification is only a lip service. #LetTheChangeBeginWithEconomicDiversifification